Ida E. Wickenden (1886-ca.1972) spent her early years in Toledo, Ohio. Her interest in missionary work began as a college
student, with her involvement in the Young Women's Christian Association. In November of 1906 she traveled to Nashville to
attend a missionary convention, and a year later she sailed for Hangchow, China to begin work there as a missionary. In 1911,
her letters to her family made an American newspaper for their descriptions of the Republican Revolution, which transferred
power from the Manchu dynasty to Chinese rule under Sun Yet Sen. The collection consists mostly of correspondence from Ida
E. Wickenden and other hand-written and printed materials relating to the time she spent as missionary in Hangchow, China.
Also included are a Wickenden family history, miscellaneous correspondence, photographs of China, photographic portraits of
Ida E. Wickenden during her missionary years, photographic postcards, and photocopies of three volumes of transcribed correspondence
entitled, “Letters from China, 1907-1913: Ida E. Wickenden to members of her family”.

Background

Ida E. Wickenden was born February 11, 1886, the third of eight children born to Thomas R. Wickenden and Ida Consual Wickenden.
According to a Wickenden family history, Thomas R. Wickenden's family ancestry was English Roman Catholic and French Huguenot;
Ida Consual Wickenden was of Spanish Huguenot, Dutch, and Quaker descent. Ida spent her early years in Toledo, Ohio. Her interest
in missionary work began as a college student, with her involvement in the Young Women's Christian Association. In November
of 1906 she traveled to Nashville to attend a missionary convention; a year later she sailed for Hangchow, China to begin
work there as a missionary. Ida stayed in Hangchow for just over five years, during which she taught at a Baptist girl's school.
In 1911 her letters to her family made an American newspaper for their descriptions of the Republican Revolution, which transferred
power from the Manchu dynasty to Chinese rule under Sun Yet Sen. Ida wrote to her family frequently throughout her stay in
China. In June of 1913 Ida left Hangchow, traveling by train across Siberia to Moscow and then to Berlin. She met her sister,
Lottie Wickenden, in England. From there they traveled to Scotland and Paris. Ida married Justin Wroe Nixon in June of 1914
after her return to the United States. The Nixons lived first in Minneapolis, Minnesota and then in Rochester, New York. They
had five children, all of whom, except the first, were born in Rochester. Ida and Justin Sr. traveled together in Europe and
Turkey after his retirement in 1954. They were married for 40 years until Justin's death in 1958. Ida spent her latter years
in a retirement community in Pomona, California and died about 1972. Ida E. Wickenden was born February 11, 1886. She was the third of eight children born to Thomas R. Wickenden and Ida Consual
Wickenden. According to a Wickenden family history, Thomas R. Wickenden's family ancestry was English Roman Catholic and French
Huguenot; Ida Consual Wickenden was of Spanish Huguenot, Dutch, and Quaker descent.

Extent

3 boxes (1.5 linear ft.)

Restrictions

Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library,
Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of
the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC
Regents do not hold the copyright.